


I’m Not a Bully, I’m Just an Idiot!

by KatSquared



Series: Misunderstandings Verse [2]
Category: X-Men (Alternate Timeline Movies), X-Men (Movieverse), X-Men - All Media Types
Genre: Accidental Homophobia, Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Still Have Powers, Bullying, But it's accidental, Charles thinks Erik is bullying him, Erik Has Feelings, Erik Logic Is The Best Logic, Humor, Idiots in Love, M/M, Misunderstandings, can be read as a standalone
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-10
Updated: 2021-01-10
Packaged: 2021-03-14 18:53:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,846
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28675518
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KatSquared/pseuds/KatSquared
Summary: “Wait, so why does this guy think you’re bullying him?” Darwin asked.“Because he thinks I called him a fucking gay idiot.” Erik replied.“Why does he think that?”“I may have said those words. Out loud. Next to him.”--OR: In which Charles thinks some metallokinetic mutant, Magnet-o, he calls him in his head, is bullying him. Erik, on the other hand, is trying (and failing) to convince Perky Ass that he isn't a creep.
Relationships: Erik Lehnsherr/Charles Xavier
Series: Misunderstandings Verse [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2101659
Comments: 14
Kudos: 188





	I’m Not a Bully, I’m Just an Idiot!

**Author's Note:**

> Changed the title and part of the summary of this fic because I didn't like seeing the word homophobic on my dashboard and so the summary was more entertaining :D

“You fucking gay idiot.” 

Charles was shocked, but made no indication that he heard the man’s words. His eyes slid to the right to look at the man in his peripherals and he saw that the man’s eyes were looking downwards, right where his satchel hung next to his hip. The man must’ve seen the little pride flag pin he had on it. 

_ Shame. _ Charles thought.  _ That guy’s really hot _ . 

Normally, he would try to challenge people on their foolish and bigoted beliefs, but he was already running late to class. He shook his head slightly, and tapped his foot waiting for the light at the crosswalk to turn green.

_ Fucking idiot ーoh shit, do you think he heard?  _ The man beside him thought loudly.

Charles sighed to himself, ten seconds left. He was frustrated upon hearing the man’s thoughts because that meant he felt angry enough to have his thoughts basically shout at him. He would’ve turned to tell this man that, yes, he did hear, but given his anger at his sexuality, he might’ve been mutant phobic as well.

It didn’t matter. The light changed and he walked quickly towards the other side and parted ways with the man at the corner of the street.

\---

The second time Charles saw the man, it wasn’t much better. It seemed that the man remembered his face and was homophobic enough to bully him. 

Charles was standing in line at one of his favorite coffee shops since he was in desperate need of caffeine that week. Midterm exams and lab work have left him pulling all-nighters and wearing skinny jeans he had since high school that he’d dug out from the back of his closet because he’d run out of clothes and had yet to do his laundry. 

He made a move to step forward in line, but promptly tripped and nearly planted face first on the hardwood floor if Hank hadn’t caught him.

“Woah!” Hank exclaimed, grabbing Charles’ shoulder and steadying him. “Charles, I know you’re sleep deprived, but try to stay upright.”

“I didn’t fall on purpose!” Charles argued. He looked down to his shoes to see what had made him stumble, but he saw that his laces neatly tied. Well, that means he didn’t step on his laces. Then he noticed the little metal aglets float for a second before they were reclaimed by gravity. Someone had been messing with his laces and made him trip!

He quickly looked up and surveyed the room to see anyone who might’ve been responsible. He immediately noticed the man from the crosswalk.

“I think that man over there,” he said to Hank. When his fellow scientist turned to look, Charles added, “the one in the turtleneck. I think he controlled my aglets and made me trip.”

Hank looked at the man his friend was referring to and told him, “It’s possible. I noticed he was stirring his coffee with a spoon without touching it. But why would he do that?”

Charles asked himself that question, too. It was one thing to have foolish beliefs, it was another to believe in them strong enough to actually cause harm to another person. Plus, it was rare to find a mutant who was homophobic. Most mutants experienced being treated as freaks of nature, so it hardly seemed logical to practice that same hate on someone who had a sexual preference. 

“I don’t know.” Charles said, and he had half a mind to speak to the man who was now pointedly looking at his phone as though it was the most interesting thing to him. Perhaps a public setting wouldn’t be the best place to confront him, nor would it help his cause. He really didn’t want to embarrass this man and give him more reason to be homophobic, then he might feel justified in his small transgressions against the gay community. He also didn’t want to cause a scene in the coffeeshop that might make mutants look bad. Who knows what this guy is capable of? He might make the espresso machines explode!

“Welcome to Westchester cafe, how may I help you?” the woman at the counter asked, flashing him a fake smile.

Maybe he’d speak to the man another time.

\---

Another time came sooner than Charles expected, and he finally had the last straw.

Charles was at the side of the street in front of the coffeeshop waiting for Raven to pick him up. She wanted to go out to celebrate the end of his midterms. He had noticed the manーwho he had started calling Magnet-o in his headー approaching him, a cup of coffee in handーjudging by the steam, it was fresh. Charles continued looking at the man from his peripherals.

“Hey, umー” the Magnet-o said, and the next thing Charles knew, the man was about to throw scalding hot coffee at him!

He side-stepped out of the way, and both his and the man’s eyes watched at freshly brewed coffee sailed out of the cup he was holding and onto the pavement.

“Oh my god!” Charles said.

“Fuck,” was all Magnet-o said, then looked up from the puddle of cappuccino to Charles' horrified face.

“I’mー” the man started, but Charles wasn’t having it. He’s had enough! What gave this man the right to bully him for his sexuality? He didn’t even know Charles and he had probably thought the worst of him for a small little pride flag pin. It’s insanity.

“Are you insane?” Charles yelled, because the fear of causing a scene flew right out the window when the coffee did. He could’ve gotten seriously injured!

“What did I do to you that made you believe you had the right to bully me? The comments calling me a fucking gay idiot I could handle, but it seems like you’re going out of your way to torment me for no good reason! You’re a mutant for god’s sake! You know how it feels to be treated maliciously for something that is out of your control. I’ve done nothing to you. My sexuality doesn’t affect you, so please do me the pleasure of fucking right off before I make you believe your name is Magnet-o!” he continued his rant.

Charles knew he’d never mess with someone’s mind for his own personal vendetta, but as he was speaking, he really felt as though that was a threat he could follow through with. The man stared at him, slack-jawed, and just when he regained his composure, probably to give a shitty excuse that justified homophobia, Raven’s car pulled up beside Charles.

“You can save it for the other homophobes.” Charles said, entering his sister’s car and driving off. 

* * *

  
  


Erik was miserable.

He was sitting at the bar with his head in his hands wondering what he’d done in his life for him to be this unfortunate.

It all started when he was walking to his job. He was on his way to the crosswalk when he noticed a guy in front of him, probably a student at the university since he had a satchel strapped on his shoulder with the bag lying at his hips. Said bag’s proximity to the guy’s hips drew Erik’s attention to what may have been the most beautiful sight Erik had ever seen: this guy’s ass. The guy’s trousers made it look tantalizing and perky, and Erik could barely look away. 

Except when he did he noticed that he almost slammed his face into a pole. He quickly moved the metal away with his powers before almost tripping into it, and then returned it to its original state when he regained his footing. 

“You fucking gay idiot.” he said to himself.

He then took a quick glance again at the guy’s backside while waiting for the crosswalk. His eyes were drawn to it, and he tried to look elsewhere but he found himself quite enamored with the sight.

_ Fucking idiot _ . He thought to himself, he needed to force his eyes to look away if he wanted any hope of walking to work without getting in an accident. He noticed the guy’s ass bouncing and he was even more hypnotized by it, before he realized that it was bouncing because the guy was tapping his foot impatiently. 

_ Oh shit, do you think he heard? _ He asked himself. The guy must be anxious to get as much distance as he can from Erik because he probably seemed like a creep! Erik tore his eyes away and stared straight ahead and didn’t look on either side of him until he separated from the man at the corner.

\---

Erik felt bad for never apologizing to Perky Ass for his behavior, so when he saw him again, he was elated. Erik normally didn’t care what people thought of him but this guy, as Erik realized, had a handsome face on top of his already stellar list of assets. Also, normally, when people thought Erik was a jerk, it was because he was being painfully blunt. He’d rather have people dislike him because they were either shitty people who didn’t agree with his opinions on mutant or gay rights or people who were butthurt from his honestyーnot when he’d accidentally creeped out someone.

Erik’s plan had gone better in his head.

Perky Ass was waiting in line at the coffee shop of his friend Darwin. Erik was seated at a table nearby, stirring his coffee. He noticed the guy’s shoelaces were untied.

Erik smiled. This was the perfect opportunity to show the hot guy he was a decent person and he could also find out if he happened to be mutant phobic. He imagined that Perky Ass would notice his neatly tied laces and look up to see who had tied them, then he would spot Erik, and Erik would wave at him, introduce himself, and he would have an amazing segue to apologize for his behavior at the crosswalk.

Unfortunately, Erik did not think of the possibility that the guy would start walking at the same time Erik had suspended his laces in the air with his powers. The guy nearly tripped if it wasn’t for his friend in the glasses, and Erik willed himself to be invisible as he pretended to be busy with his phone as the man looked up to find the reason for his fumbling.

\---

Of course, because the universe loves to watch him suffer, Erik had seen the guy again. This time, Erik had a better plan: no powers involved, and just straight up talking to Perky Ass.

He was at the coffee shop at the time, and noticed the guy from the window. He was waiting for something on the street. Erik got up, and quickly bought a cappuccino. It would be a great peace offering. He emerged from the shop and approached the guy.

Erik imagined, not that his imagination had been accurate last time, that he would say, “Hey, I’m Erik. I’m really sorry for what happened the last times we’ve met. I’d like to make it up to you.”

Erik briefly considered if he should say more, but he was always a man of few words. 

Turns out, this was surprisingly accurate because he barely got out one word before chaos erupted.

Erik had tripped on the pavement and he watched in horror as he almost ruined this guy’s face with third degree burns. 

And because Erik was an idiot, and a man of few words, instead of saying the more helpful phrase of, “I’m sorry,” he had instead said, “Fuck.”

Which promptly made the guy in front of him explode in anger.

Erik stood as the guy tore into him, and continued to stare as the guy got in his car and drove off.

This was much worse. Originally, Erik thought that the guy thought he was some creepy stalker weirdo, but now apparently he thinks he’s some creepy stalker  _ homophobic bully _ weirdo!

Later that day, Erik went to bar with Darwin, who only laughed at his misery.

“Wait, so why does this guy think you’re bullying him?” Darwin asked.

“Because he thinks I called him a fucking gay idiot.” Erik replied, omitting all the other reasons.

“Why does he think that?”

“I may have said those words. Out loud. Next to him.”

“Erik, you’re a fucking gay idiot.”

“Yes, I know that!”

Erik told Darwin the rest of the story and proceeded to grouse for the rest of the night. Then Darwin left him alone at the bar for a while when he bumped into some friends and stopped to chat with them. Erik wasn’t very sociable, even more so when he was grumpy, so he didn’t join his friend in chatting. Instead, he ordered another beer, and stared at it for the longest time, imagining different scenarios where he could redeem himself to Perky Ass.

“Hey, what’s your problem?” the bartender, a really gruff and hairy man, said to him.

Erik ignored him and continued staring at his drink. He didn’t feel like talking about his mistakes again.

“Logan!” said a voice approaching the bar. The voice was one that Erik recognized as the one that had yelled at him only hours before.

“You would not fucking believe the day I had.” he said to the bartender whose name was apparently Logan.

“What happened?” Logan asked as he poured the guy a drink.

“There was this asshole who tried to throw scalding hot coffee at me after making me trip and calling me a gay idiot.”

“It was an accident!” Erik burst out. He was starting to feel frustrated. He was frustrated that he got himself into this mess. He was frustrated that the guy thought he was homophobic. He was frustrated that Darwin thought this was funny when it was mortifying. Erik had never had a problem with people’s opinions of him, but this man had a completely  _ false _ opinion of him. He badly wanted to change that. He could handle people thinking he was an insane separatist, a foolish mutant, a freak, or even a gay disaster because Erik knew they said that because he opposed their own beliefs. This was the first time in Erik’s life that someone had an opinion of him that did not extend from a biased view of his actions but rather, a misunderstanding, and Erik was getting frustrated that he couldn’t get this guy to see that.

“How do you accidentally call someone a gay idiot?” The guy challenged, arms crossed. He quickly regained his composure after the initial shock of Erik’s outburst.

“I was calling  _ myself _ a gay idiot.” Erik said, as though it explained everything.

“That doesn’t explain the shoelaces and the attempted murder by coffee!”

“You are so dramatic.”

“If you aren’t going to explain, I think I’ll go sit elsewhere.”

Erik huffed. He knew he was in the wrong, but did this man have to make it so humiliating? How did Erik even begin to explain the reason he’d call himself an idiot in the first place?

“Okay, I’ll explain, but only if you promise not to laugh at me.”

“No.”

They stared at each other for a moment, before Erik’s need to be right, that was yelling,  _ prove to him you’re not a homophobe! _ , won over.

“Fine, I’ll tell you anyway.” Erik conceded, and the guy smiled.

Erik took a deep breath, “Okay, so when I first saw you, your satchel was bouncing by your hip and my eyes were drawn to...other things. Because of that, I almost walked into a pole so I called myself a gay idiot. I thought you heard me and thought I was being creepy, so when I saw you again, I tied your laces with my powers but you moved at the same time, so I accidentally tripped you.”

“You make it sound like it’s my fault you tripped.”

“Shut up, I’m explaining myself. Then, I tried to make it up to you by bringing you coffee but I tripped on the pavement and almost gave you third degree burns. So, in conclusion, I’m not a homophobe, I’m just an idiot.”

* * *

Charles stared at the man who just explained his accidental homophobia to him for approximately one second before bursting into laughter.

“Yes you are. I’m Charles Xavier, by the way.” he said to the man.

“Erik Lehnsherr.” MagneーErik replied.

“I finally get to put a name to the face of my bully.” Charles joked. “I’ve been calling you Magnet-o in my head because of the metal shoelace fiasco.”

“Only the aglets were metal.” Erik said, hoping that, by correction Charles, he wouldn’t feel as humiliated by the whole situation. “Wait, you’ve been calling me Magnet-o? I’ve been calling you Peー”

Erik stopped himself before he could embarrass himself any further.  _ I almost told him I called him Perky Ass. Idiot. _

_ Oh, is that the other thing you were looking at before almost walking into a pole?  _ A voice said in his head.

  
Erik put his face into his hands and groaned.  _ Of course you’re a fucking telepath _ .

**Author's Note:**

> Hello, second x-men fic, yay! Hope this is good :> This is how Erik and Charles met in the universe of the last fic I made! Please give me validation in the form of comments and kudos, thank you! Also feel free to correct me on anything on this fic if there's anything wrong/problematic with it :>
> 
> Be my friend on twitter: @SquaredKat


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